Mesoscale, Seasonal and Inter-Annual Variability of Surface Water CO2 in the Drake Passage

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

0003609 Takahashi This proposal is for the installation, maintenance, and data analysis of equipment on the R/V Laurence M. Gould to measure dissolved carbon dioxide gas (pCO2) along with occasional total carbon dioxide (TCO2) in surface waters on transects of Drake Passage. The proposed work is an extension of similar measurements made aboard R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer, and complements similar surface temperature and current data. The Southern Ocean is an important component of the global carbon budget. Low surface temperatures with consequently low vertical stability, ice formation, and high winds produce a very active environment for the exchange of gaseous carbon dioxide between the atmospheric and oceanic reservoirs. The Drake Passage is the narrowest point through which the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and its associated fronts must pass, and is the most efficient location for the measurement of latitudinal gradients of gas exchange. The complementary tempearture and current data, supplemented by satellite imagery will allow not only the quantitative description of the sources of pCO2 variability and the calculation of air-sea CO2 fluxes, but also estimates of the net production and carbon export by the biological community. ***